Valve for a pressurized dispenser

ABSTRACT

A valve for a pressurized dispenser includes a valve body axially movable within a valve housing. The body includes a socket for telescopic receipt of a guiding pin or the like projecting upwards from a lower interior portion of the housing.

United States Patent 1191 Kolanus July 8, 1975 [54] VALVE FOR A PRESSURIZED DISPENSER 2,980,301 4/1961 DeGorter 222/4022 3,074,601 1/1963 Kufi'er ZZZ/402.24 1 lnvemo" Kdanus, Hattershelm/Mam, 3,081,916 3/1963 Rhodes et a] 222/402122 x Germany 3,130,880 4/1964 Briechle ZZZ/402.24 X [73] Assignee: Precision Valve Corporation, 5652: a] 523;

Yonkers, NY. 22 p 17 1973 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS pp N0: 380,003 962,303 7/1964 United K1ngdom................. 251/353 0 Primary Examiner-Henry T. Klinksiek [30] Fore'gn Apphcauo" Prwr'ty Data Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Davis, Hoxie, Faithfull &

July 22, 1972 Germany 2236068 Hapgood [52] [1.8. C] 251/353; 222/402.24 51 1111. C1. Fl6k 31/00 ABSTRACT [58] Field of Search 222/402, 40223 A valve for a pressurized dispenser includes a valve 222/4O2'24' 40225 4022; 251/347 body axially movable within a valve housing. The body 323 includes a socket for telescopic receipt of a guiding pin or the like projecting upwards from a lower inte- [56] References C'ted rior portion of the housing.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,370,182 2/1945 Morrow et a1. 251/353 x 3 Clam, 3 Draw l l 1 l l l I l 1 2 625 8374 173: 7226729 923 A F' lA 21 15 PMEHTFUJUL 8 1915 VALVE FOR A PRESSURIZED DISPENSER This invention relates to a valve for use on a pressurized dispenser for dispensing materials in aerosol form and more particularly relates to a dispensing valve comprising a valve housing, a valve body movable axially within the housing and having a hollow valve stem extending upwards from the valve body, a valve port in the valve stem communicating with the interior thereof, a gasket surrounding and sealing the valve port when the valve body is in a raised position, and a helical compression spring which biases the valve body upwards and is disposed between a first supporting surface on the lower end of the valve body and a second supporting surface on the interior bottom wall of the valve housing, the gasket being deflected downwards to uncover the valve port when the valve stem is depressed by a button or other actuator applied to the upper, projecting end of the valve stem.

A dispensing valve as above described is disclosed in US. Pat. No. 2,631,814 in the name of Robert Henry Abplanalp. The valve body described and illustrated in this U.S. Patent is of irregular cross-sectional shape to provide supporting portions adapted to slidably engage the interior wall of the valve housing to ensure a nontilting stroke of the valve body when the valve actuating button is depressed. Valves conforming to US. Pat. No. 2,631,8l4 have been manufactured on a massive scale for many years and have proved eminently satisfactory. However, when in a dispensing operation of the valve a transverse force is applied to the button in addition to an axial actuating force due, for example, to the upper face of the button being inclined with respect to the horizontal, a tilting moment becomes applied to the valve body. This tilting moment may result in the valve body binding against the interior lateral surface of the valve housing. This impedes completely satisfactory operation of the valve.

One object of the present invention is to provide an improved manner of guiding the valve body during operation of the valve so as to eliminate or reduce the aforesaid binding tendency. Another highly important object of the invention is to provide within the valve housing a valve body guiding means which permits the length of the valve housing to be kept short, this being important to achieve a considerable saving of material used for the construction of the valve housing, especially when considering the enormously high mass production of valves employing such valve bodies.

With the above objects in view, a dispensing valve for a pressurized dispenser according to the present invention comprises a valve housing, a valve body movable axially within the housing and having a hollow valve stem extending upwards from the valve body, a valve port in the valve stem communicating with the interior thereof, a gasket surrounding and sealing the valve port when the valve body is in a raised position, a helical compression spring which biasses the valve body upwards and is disposed between a first supporting surface on the lower end of the valve body and a second supporting surface on the interior bottom wall of the valve housing, and valve body guiding means constituted by a part projecting downwards from the lower end of the valve body within the helical compression spring, and a part projecting upwards from said second supporting surface, said parts being in telescopic engagement. Preferably, the guiding part on the valve body is in the form ofa sleeve and the guiding part projecting upwards from said second supporting surface comprises a pin.

The valve body guiding means according to this invention avoids increasing the length of the valve housing when made substantially according to US. Pat. No. 2,631 ,8l4 and ensures that in the event of a tilting moment being applied to the valve body during a dispensing operation, tilting of the valve body is substantially prevented owing to the engagement of the aforesaid telescopic guiding parts. A further safeguard against undue tilting of the valve body is assured by providing at least three radial ribs on the exterior of the valve body for slidably engaging the interior lateral wall of the valve housing.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates a valve according to one embodiment of this invention in longitudinal section.

FIG. 2 is a sectional plan view taken on the line A-A, FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 is a sectional plan view taken on the line B-B, FIG. 1.

The valve illustrated comprises a valve housing 5 retained in a valve mounting cup 1 by a crimped portion 4 of the cup which has a beaded edge 2 by means of which the valve mounting cup can be sealed to a pres surized dispensing container in a known manner. The valve further comprises a valve body 9 movable axially within the valve housing 5 and having a hollow valve stem 10 extending upwards from the valve body through an aperture 26 in the top wall 3 of the valve mounting cup, the stem passage being designated 11. A necked portion 12 of the valve stem has a valve port or orifice l3 communicating with the stem passage 11. An annular gasket 7 surrounds the necked portion 12 of the valve stem and the inner edge 14 of the gasket seals the valve port 13 when the valve body 9 is in the rest position shown in FIG. I. The outer periphery 8 of the gasket 7 is clamped between the top rim 6 of the valve housing 5 and the wall 3 of the valve mounting cup. A helical compression spring 15 biases the valve body 9 upwards and is disposed between a first supporting surface 16 on the lower end of the valve body 9 and a second supporting surface 17 forming the interior bottom wall 17 of the valve housing 5. The supporting surface 17 is, as shown in FIG. 3, formed by four radial ribs between which passages 18 communicate with the interior of a socket 19 for receiving the adjacent end of a dip tube, not shown, which extends down within the container to which the valve is fitted. Ribs 24 projecting inwards from the interior lateral wall of the valve housing 5 form an external guide for the helical spring 15 in the region of the second spring-supporting surface 17.

A valve body guiding means according to this invention comprises a sleeve part 21 projecting downwards from the spring-supporting surface 16 on the valve body 9, such sleeve being disposed within the helical spring 15. The valve body guiding means further comprises a pin 20 projecting upwards from the springsupporting surface 17 and moulded integrally with the valve housing 5. The pin extends upwards to a distance of of the height of the helical spring 15, when considered in its rest position illustrated in FIG. 1, which shows the pin entered with a free fit into the lower end of the sleeve passage 23 which extends upwards into the valve body 9 beyond the spring-supporting surface 16. The outer face of the sleeve 21 serves as an internal guide for the top end of the helical spring 15.

The valve housing Sis wider at its upper end 25 to receive the inner margin of the gasket 7 when this is deflected downwards and peeled away from the conical portion 12 of the valve stem l upon depression of the latter by a button or other actuator applied to the upper end of the stem. The portion 27 of the interior wall of the valve housing below the widened portion 25 forms a guide surface for the outer surfaces 28 of four radial ribs 29 projecting radially from the exterior lateral wall of the valve body which is generally of cyiindrical shape.

When a valve according to this invention is applied to a charged pressurized container and a transversely applied force happens to be exerted on the valve stem 10 when operating the valve, tilting of the valve body is substantially prevented by the telescopic engagement of guide sleeve 21 and guide pin 20, this engagement being maintained throughout the depression stroke since the elongated passage 23 through the sleeve 21 is long enough to receive pin 20. The pin 20 may have a length of 4 mm and a diameter of 1.5 mm. Despite these small dimensions there is no risk of pin fracture in the event of an excessive tilting force being rashly applied since after any slight deformation of the valve body guiding parts, one of the guide ribs 29 will engage guide surface 27 on the valve housing 5 and this will resist further tilting action.

The vaive illustrated may be used both as a dispensing valve and a propellant charging valve. When used for charging a container with propellant, the inner margin of the gasket 7 is forced down into the widened part 25 of the valve housing by propellant introduced around the valve stem 10 through the aperture 26 in the top wall 3 of the valve mounting cup. The valve body guides 20, 2] permit ofa valve stroke greater than 50% ofthe length of the helical spring when considered in the rest position. Accordingly, no lengthening of the valve housing is required since the valve body guides 20, 21 are situated within the helical spring 15 and the sleeve passage 23 does not take up any additional space.

Valves for which the present invention is intended are usually comparatively small and as manufactured employ a valve housing of about 7 mm, external diameter, the housing cavity having a diameter of about 6 mm. The relatively movable parts within the housing are correspondingly small, viz., the spring-centering ribs 24, helical spring 15, guide sleeve 21 and guide pin 20. The disposition of these four relatively movable parts within such a small diameter valve housing cavity and the guiding of the valve body within the housing from below have not hitherto been suggested or consid ered feasible and have been achieved without necessarily increasing the length of the valve housing as hitherto manufactured.

The valve illustrated can be modified in construction without departing from this invention. Further, if it is not required to use the valve for charging the container with propellant but only for dispensing purposes, the enlargement 25 of the valve housing 5 may be dispensed with and the interior surface 27 can be continued to the upper end of the valve housing 5.

I claim:

1. A dispensing valve for a pressurized dispenser comprising: a valve housing, a valve body movable axially within the housing, said valve body including an integral hollow valve stem extending axially upwardly and an integral hollow spring retaining sleeve extending downwardly, a valve port in the valve stem communicating with the interior of the valve stem, an annular gasket encompassing and sealing the valve port when the valve body is in a raised position, a helical compression spring which biases the valve body upwardly, the upper portion of said spring overlying and being retained on said spring retaining sleeve, the lower portion of said spring being disposed on a spring supporting surface on the interior bottom of the valve housing, and a guide pin extending axially upwardly from the interior bottom of said valve housing through the interior of said spring and telescopically received in the interior of said spring retaining sleeve.

2. A valve according to claim 1, wherein the outer surface of the sleeve forms an internal guide for the helical spring.

3. A valve according to claim 1, wherein at least three radial ribs are provided on the exterior lateral surface of the valve body for slidably engaging the interior lateral wall of the valve housing.

* a: :k k 

1. A dispensing valve for a pressurized dispenser comprising: a valve housing, a valve body movable axially within the housing, said valve body including an integral hollow valve stem extending axially upwardly and an integral hollow spring retaining sleeve extending downwardly, a valve port in the valve stem communicating with the interior of the valve stem, an annular gasket encompassing and sealing the valve port when the valve body is in a raised position, a helical compression spring which biases the valve body upwardly, the upper portion of said spring overlying and being retained on said spring retaining sleeve, the lower portion of said spring being disposed on a spring supporting surface on the interior bottom of the valve housing, and a guide pin Extending axially upwardly from the interior bottom of said valve housing through the interior of said spring and telescopically received in the interior of said spring retaining sleeve.
 2. A valve according to claim 1, wherein the outer surface of the sleeve forms an internal guide for the helical spring.
 3. A valve according to claim 1, wherein at least three radial ribs are provided on the exterior lateral surface of the valve body for slidably engaging the interior lateral wall of the valve housing. 